1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an extraction cleaning machine and, more particularly, to an upright extraction cleaning machine. In another of its aspects, the invention relates to an upright extraction cleaning machine with a speed sensor which detects the speed that the base housing of the cleaning machine is moving, whether by propulsion or by manual movement. In an additional aspect, the invention relates to a method for optimally removing dirt from a floor surface by operating the extraction cleaning machine at an optimal speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Upright extraction cleaning machines have been used for removing dirt from surfaces such as carpeting, upholstery, drapes and the like. The known extraction cleaning machines can be in the form of a canister-type unit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,720 or an upright unit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,861.
Either type of unit contains a suction nozzle for withdrawing a typical mixture of applied cleaning solution, water and dirt embedded or contained on a floor surface and a fluid delivery system for depositing a mixture of cleaning solution on the floor surface. It has been found that the speed at which the suction nozzle and/or fluid is applied to the surface can have a significant effect on the cleaning machine""s ability to effectively clean a floor surface.
Moving the extraction head too quickly over a floor surface can prevent the extraction head from withdrawing an insufficient amount of dirt, thus leaving the floor surface with an undesirable amount of retained dirt and/or a water/cleaning solution mixturexe2x80x94thus, the carpet would be either dirtier than desired or left with a high accumulation of water/cleaning solution embedded therein and would require an extended period of drying time.
Moving the extraction head too slowly over a floor surface, while extracting virtually the same amount of water from the floor surface being cleaned, can simply result in the user taking an undesirably long period of time to perform the extraction process.
Thus, it can be seen that the degree of cleaning of an extraction cleaning machine depends on a number of factors, including the speed of the machine along the surface to be cleaned, the relative amounts of cleaning solution and water, the amount of soil in the carpet or surface, the amount of suction applied to remove the dirty fluid from the carpet or other surface and the temperature of the cleaning fluid. The speed that the extractor head is passed along a floor surface typically depends on the operator. Thus, the rate of cleaning will likely vary by operator and, hence, the perceived effectiveness of the extraction cleaning machine.
The invention relates to speed-sensing system adapted to a deep cleaner. The speed sensing system comprises a magnetic pick-up sensor located on at least one of the wheels of the upright deep cleaner, a printed circuit board comprising the necessary computer logic to process signals received from the magnetic sensor, a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED) which illuminate upon a signal from the printed circuit board, a housing to enclose the printed circuit board, and associated wiring harnesses to electrically connect the sensor, the printed circuit board, and the light emitting diodes. In operation, the magnetic sensor senses the rate of rotation of the wheel on the upright deep cleaner. The printed circuit board synthesizes the inputs from the sensor and selectively lights the appropriate number of LEDs. The system is configured such that as the rotational speed of the upright deep cleaner wheel increases, additional LEDs are lit. The advantage of the speed sensing system is that optimum deep cleaning is achieved when the deep cleaner is moved along the surface at a certain predetermined speed. The speed sensor described herein provides a visual indication to the user that the upright deep cleaner is moving across the carpet at a rate that will achieve optimum cleaning performance. In an alternate embodiment, the visual indicating lights may be replaced by an audible indication to the user.
In one aspect, the invention relates to an extraction surface cleaning apparatus having a housing, at least two wheels mounted to the housing for supporting the housing for movement along a surface to be cleaned, and a liquid dispensing system mounted to the housing. The liquid dispensing system can include a liquid dispensing nozzle for applying liquid to a surface to be cleaned, a fluid supply chamber for holding a supply of cleaning fluid, and a fluid supply conduit fluidly connected to the fluid supply chamber and to the dispensing nozzle for supplying liquid to the dispensing nozzle. A fluid recovery system is mounted to the housing and includes a recovery chamber for holding recovered fluid, a suction nozzle, a working air conduit extending between the recovery chamber and the suction nozzle, and a vacuum source in fluid communication with the recovery chamber for generating a flow of working air from the suction nozzle through the working air conduit and through the recovery chamber. Dirty liquid is thereby drawn from the surface to be cleaned through the suction nozzle and the working air conduit, and into the recovery chamber. An improvement to the art of extraction cleaners comprises a detector for sensing the speed of the housing across the surface being cleaned and for generating a speed signal representative thereof, and an output device mounted on the housing and coupled to the detector for displaying or audibly expressing the relative speed of the housing across the floor being cleaned.
In another aspect, the invention relates to an extraction surface cleaning apparatus having an extraction housing including a suction nozzle adapted to be moved along a floor surface to be cleaned, a handle mounted to the extraction housing for grasping by a user and propelling the extraction housing over the floor surface, and a cleaning fluid delivery system interconnected with the extraction housing and movable therewith to apply a cleaning solution to the floor surface. A fluid recovery system is interconnected with the extraction housing to recover soiled cleaning solution from the floor surface. A detector is mounted to the extraction housing for detecting the relative speed of the extraction housing relative to the floor surface and for generating a signal representative of the detected speed. An output device is operably interconnected with the detector, and is adapted to receive the signal generated by the detector and to indicate to a user the detected relative speed of the extraction housing.
In various embodiments of the invention, the detector can be aligned with and adjacent to one of the at least two wheels adapted to detect the rotational motion of the one of the at least two wheels without physically contacting the wheel. The detector can comprise a first disk portion mounted to the one of the at least two wheels for rotation therewith, and a second pick-up portion fixedly mounted to the housing aligned with and adjacent to the first disk portion adapted to generate a signal representative of the rotation of the first disk portion. The first disk portion can have alternating opposite-polarity magnetic segments thereon and the second pick-up portion is adapted to detect the rotational speed of the first disk portion by detecting changes in the magnetic polarity of a particular segment of the first disk portion located adjacent to the second pick-up portion. The output device can comprise a converter interconnected with the detector and adapted to change the speed signal from the detector into a visual indicator of the speed of the housing across the floor. The visual indicator can comprise at least one light-emitting diode that emits light representative of the speed signal received from the detector. The at least one light-emitting diode can comprise a series of light-emitting diodes wherein output device illuminates a particular number of the series of light-emitting diodes proportional to the speed signal received from the detector.
The indicator can be mounted to the handle, the base or preferably any other line of sight of a user between a position behind the handle and the extraction housing. The handle can be pivotally mounted to the extraction head. The fluid delivery and fluid recovery systems can be carried on the extraction housing.
In a further aspect, the invention relates to a method of cleaning a floor surface with an extraction cleaner comprising the steps of: moving the extraction cleaner across the floor surface; depositing a cleaning solution from the extraction cleaner on the floor surface; recovering soiled cleaning solution from the floor surface with the extraction cleaner; detecting the relative speed of the extraction cleaner with respect to the floor surface; and communicating to a user the detected relative speed of the extraction cleaner.
The communicating step can further comprise generating a visual signal. The communicating step can comprise generating an audible signal. The communicating step can further comprise generating a speed signal representative of said detected speed and converting the speed signal to an audible or visual signal that is readable and understandable by a user operating the extraction cleaner. The method can also further comprise the step of generating a predetermined reference signal and comparing the reference signal to the speed signal. The method can also further comprise the step of alerting a user if the difference between the reference signal and the speed signal exceeds a predetermined threshold.